Newly manufactured contact lenses are frequently packaged in contact lens blister packages or blister packs. For example, a newly manufactured contact lens will be placed in a cavity or bowl of a plastic base member of a contact lens blister package, a contact lens packaging solution will be provided in the blister package cavity, and a foil sealing member will be adhered to the blister package to hermetically seal the contact lens in the packaging solution in the cavity. In other words, a contact lens blister package used in the manufacture of contact lenses contains a base member having a cavity, an unworn contact lens provided in a packaging solution within the cavity, and a sealing member sealed to the base member to provide an air tight seal around the perimeter of the cavity. The blister packs are understood to be primary packaging. Multiple blister packs are then placed in cartons. The cartons are considered secondary packaging.
Because contact lenses are medical devices, it is important that information regarding the contact lenses is provided to help support healthcare and patient safety. This is accomplished by providing human-readable information, such as letters, numbers, and images, on the sealing member used to seal a contact lens blister pack. This human-readable information is typically preprinted on the sealing member prior to placement on the blister pack. Additional variable information, including machine readable information, such as bar codes, is then provided on cartons that contain multiple blister packs, each having an unworn contact lens.
It can be appreciated that there remains a need to improve contact lens packaging, which, among other things, maintains enough contact lens information to help improve healthcare and patient safety.
WO2013/109187 discloses a contact lens package assembly including a scalable primary lens package, at least one contact lens sealed within the primary lens package, and a scalable secondary lens package. The primary lens package is sealed within the secondary lens package to increase a shelf life of the at least one contact lens. The secondary lens package may be resealable. The secondary lens package may be configured to retain a plurality of primary lens packages. The contact lens package assembly may further include at least one inert gas sealed within the secondary lens package and outside of the primary lens package.
WO2004/004930 discloses a process and apparatus for automatically sorting and sequencing a random assemblage of products associated with a particular order for same. In one embodiment, the invention sequences the random products to match a predetermined label application sequence.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,402 discloses a food package for containing a food product. The food package includes a tray having a base with an outer surface and an inner surface and a sidewall extending from the base. The sidewall has outer surface and an inner surface and defines a tray opening. A sleeve is provided which includes (i) a bottom section disposed adjacent the outer surface of the base; (ü) a side section disposed adjacent the outer surface of the sidewall; and (iii) a top section secured to the sidewall and substantially covering the tray opening. In another embodiment, a plastic film is interposed between the tray and the sleeve
EP1270441 discloses a packaging structure having at least one carrier section for the contents with a bonded protective shrouding, a base and a lid to form a carton. The carrier is hinged to the shrouding, to give a flap action between a stowed rest position between the base and lid and an open access position. The base and lid are component parts of the carton, with its four side walls at right angles to the base. One side wall forms a hinge strip, so that the carrier section has a swing movement at the hinge strip, and the butting side walls are stabilized at least in the rest position. The carrier section holds a blister film, with the contained pills or capsules welded and sealed in place.
US2013/255195 discloses a method for the secondary packaging of ophthalmic lenses, for example contact lenses, contained in individual primary packages. The method included steps of providing a plurality of single individual primary packages each containing a lens and determining a number of single individual primary packages to be taken from the plurality of single individual primary packages and to be packed into a secondary package. The method further includes the steps of providing a secondary package blank of a size capable of accommodating the determined number of single individual primary packages to be packed into the secondary package and placing each single individual primary package of the determined number of single individual primary packages into the secondary package blank. The method further includes the step of folding and closing the secondary package blank containing the determined number of single individual primary packages to form the secondary package.